Free in a cage
by martymcbeezap
Summary: 15 year old Tomi's life seemed to be in the dumps. Her love was always unrequited, her family verbally abused her, she was one of the few who wasn't a ninja, and she's fallen in love with a man she can't be with... legally. KakashixOC
1. Introduction

Introduction.

Hello, I'm the narrator and main character of this story. I have always

_loved_ to tell stories, but until recently I haven't realized the difference between

illusion and reality. I would write about winning the heart of the boy I loved, or

being the best at something I do, or the best at something I wanted to do. When

ever I did I would write about myself being somebody completely different, just

so I could get the satisfaction of knowing that I can have what I want in _my own _

mind.

Then someone made me realize who I was and what everything else was.

He helped me get this far, where ever "this far" may be. At least he opened my

eyes and let me see the world around me, when before I thought the world

focused on _me_ with my eyes closed. I couldn't see that every one had their own

life. Before, it just never sunk in.

But now I can tell things how they really are. I'm _never_ going to lie to

myself or anyone who reads my work ever again. And again, hello. My name is

Tomi. I might be boring but I live in an exciting world full of sadness, joy, debt,

revenge, gratitude, jealousy, hate and of course, _love_. I live in the exciting world

of Ninjas, troubles, me, and him.


	2. For the greater good, let him go!

I will start the real story at a part where you can understand who my friends are, or were, and where I stand as far as personality and luck. It was one of the coldest Konoha winters. The wind made my cheeks pink and they felt as if they were gnawed off by a mad dog with rabies… okay _maybe_ they didn't hurt that much… but they stung.

A buttery smell filled the air and hit me kindly as I opened the glass doors to the movie theater. I took a deep breath through my nostrils of sweet warm air and I closed my eyes to enhance the sensation. Ahh… butter popcorn… The lights were bright although the colors of the theater were dull and boring. I held the door open for my friends who were shivering in their coats. When the stepped inside they had the same reaction as I did when I first walked in. I had four friends with me-- and two others who were dating two of my friends.

That day was a rare day because my friends had the day off. In fact, ALL ninja's had the day off that day. _My_ work day, however, ended about 4:37 pm, about an hour and a half before. We looked at the list of movies that was posted on the wall to our right, we started pointing to one title then another. We had decided that we were defiantly going to a horror film, although they weren't, and aren't, my favorite genre of movie and I wasn't looking very forward to it-- but I decided to give it a chance. We walked up to the booth and Arisu paid for her ticket first, fallowed by her boyfriend, Tadao. I came next.

"Hello, I'm with them." I said while tilting my head toward Arisu and Tadao who were walking towards the concession stand together. Arisu's boots and Tadao's shoes were tossing snow off as they walked and the janitor cursed under his breath as he struggled to keep the place clean with nothing but a broom and a sweep. I looked at Arisu and Tadao's hands and wished that they were holding each others hands at that moment. "And them." I turned around towards the rest of my friends who were still rubbing their own arms together to get heat in their coats.

"Okay… one more for--" she said, naming the movie.

"Yeah." I said and slightly nodded my head. I paid the fee and the lady working at the booth gave me my ticket and change back.

I turned backwards again, mostly turned to Ima but my eyes were looking at who she was talking to. Another one of my friends who I didn't know very well, but I knew that I was fond of him. His name is Enamaru. He was chuckling at what Ima said and each time it melted my heart just a little bit more. I was trying to think of something I could say to them both and would be able to get a response from him. Honestly I didn't have any idea what they were talking about, and just when I understood what they were talking about my train of thought was interrupted.

"Um, Miss?" The booth lady said. I turned around again and asked her what she needed.

"The other customers need to use the booth…" She said. I had forgotten to move away and was holding up an extremely long line. My face flushed red as I saw people in the line glaring at me and tapping their foot. How long had I been staring at Enamaru? I grabbed my purse that was on the booth and moved over as fast as I could… which wasn't very fast.

As I walked away aware of how many people thought I was a stupid ditz Ima, Enamaru, Miyah and her boyfriend Isao paid for their tickets.

"More." I heard Arisu say to the man working at concessions.

"Is this enough _yet…_?!" He looked exhausted as he rubbed the upper section of his right arm. "You've got loads of butter already." Arisu shook her head and Tadao was stooped down looking through the glass that showed what candies were available. I grew a large and (purposefully) creepy smile and fast-walked up behind Arisu and put my head on her shoulder from behind and spoke in a deep, devil-ish voice. "**BOO.**" I said loudly directly in her right ear, and as I expected it didn't even make her jump.

"Leik ohmigawd!!" She said imitating the voice of a stereotypical cheerleader. I straightened out, bringing my head back up as she turned around and I saw that she had a hysterical expression on her face! Her eyes were crossed and her lips like she was saying a deep 'O' sound. I laughed at it and she laughed too.

"How about this?" The concession man asked Arisu again after adding more melted butter from the butter pump. Without even turning around Arisu told him to add more. He did a combination of a sigh and scoff as he set the huge bucket of popcorn underneath the butter pump.

Arisu was a chunin back in those days when we were both 15 years old.

"I haven't been to a movie in fuckin' forever!" Arisu smiled. Tadao was still searching through the snacks.

"I can tell!" I said in response, "You seem to be getting a little butter happy."

"What 'chu talkin' bout Willis?!" She joked and I laughed. "Aw, you know me, I just loves my byuttuh!" Nearly every second we were joking with each other with lines from funny shows, strange voices, strange faces, or obviously fake emotions… actually, that's how it is with _all_ of my good friends.

"Butt sex!!" I heard Miyah yell behind me, she was probably joking around with Ima or Enamaru. Miyah was my age and was a chunin at that time. Her black hair was thin and messy-- I thought it was amazing! She and her boyfriend Isao had a deep affection for each other and I loved to see them together! Although I was a tad jealous that she had someone to call her own, it wasn't the mad kind of jealousy. She had known Ima and Enamaru _long_ before we met. I was introduced to Miyah through Ima, who I have been a friend of for quite some time, and through Ima I was introduced to Enamaru as well.

I started to laugh at Miyah's random impulse and decided to get a snack for the movie. I bought some of the chocolate malts that I love oh-so-much and nearly consumed the entire box when I paid for it (not really, though).

"Oh, by the way…" Arisu said half whispering. She paused for a second or two and called Miyah over.

"Yeah?" Miyah asked as we all huddled together like in a football game.

"You know the plan, _riiiight_?" Arisu asked the two of us with a smug smile painted on her face. I tilted my head in confusion and Miyah nodded hers. Plan? I didn't know of any plan! We had already decided which movie to go to…

"What plan??" I finally asked. Arisu asked Miyah if she had told me about this so called "plan" like how she apparently told Miyah to do, and Miyah inhaled through her teeth and shook her head.

"Slipped my mind, I guess…!"

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKIN', WOMAN?!" Arisu quietly shouted as she grabbed Miyah by the shoulders and shook her jokingly. "Okay, tell her now!"

"We've been trying to--"

"Hey what are you guys meeting about?!" Ima laughed behind Miyah. I turned my head toward Ima but didn't see Enamaru. I stood up a little more and saw him adding more seasonings to his medium sized bucket of popcorn with Isao.

"Ohh, you know… stuff…" Miyah said, "You know… concerning you and…" she tilted her head toward Enamaru. _What?_ I thought to myself, _Ima and… Enamaru…?!_ I looked at Ima and saw her smiling. She told us that she didn't mind of Miyah helped with this, because she was also good friends with Enamaru while Arisu and I didn't. I didn't need a brain then to know what was going on… I finally accepted the fact that they liked eachother. I guess I always knew what they felt for each other deep inside, but I tried to convince myself that they were just good friends. I started to feel my heart sink. This feeling wasn't new, in fact, I've probably faced this feeling a million times and yet I never got used to it. I was becoming heartbroken.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter one:

For the greater good, _let him go_.

"It's better to have had love and lost love, than to never have loved at all."

-William Shakespeare

Chapter theme song: "_Hallelujah_" By Rufus Weighnright

And

"_You found me_" by The Fray

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh my god!" Miyah gasped loudly as we sat in the movie theater, "It's so… so…!!!"

"Buttery!" Arisu said as she set the large bucket of popcorn back in her own lap. Miyah silently gagged as she scratched her tongue with her fingernails to get the taste off.

"You don't like butter?!" Arisu asked Miyah as if she was a crazy person.

"I just don't like STRAIGHT butter!"

We talked a lot during the movie, but I couldn't concentrate. All I could think of was my unrequited love. It could have been worse, I guess. I could have told someone how I felt about him and then my friendship with Ima would be ruined, or I would have been rejected and left even more broken hearted than I was now. I looked over at Ima, who seemed to be completely taken over by the movie, and Enamaru, who seemed to be just as into it. I slouched in my seat as I tried to hold down the choke I felt in my throat. I had read about these types of situations, but I never read about the solution.

I looked back at the movie screen and there was a very pale boy in a torn suit standing at the end of a staircase staring at the main character. I still found no interest in the movie and looked up in the ceiling. The movie went for about two and a half hours and my friends and I got loud enough that some people started throwing some gum drops at us.

When the movie was finished we walked outside. I was shivering in my coat and trying to adjust my scarf to cover my face more. Everyone but me had someone to hold at the moment, but two of them were too worried that it'd be going too fast. I never got to hear about the "plan", so it would have to go on without me. I was walking slower than the others and Arisu noticed. She turned around as we walked on a sidewalk covered with compact snow stained with sand and dirt.

"Hey!" Arisu said, "What's up?" I tried to act normal but the fact that Ima and Enamaru liked each other was still bringing me down. "Why are you so slow today?" She asked again.

"Uhh, I'm just real sleepy right now…" I replied, "So I'm not sure if I'll be able to make the night-over."

"What?" Arisu said, "That's weird, are you sure? I'm sure that you could just lay down once we get to Miyah's place!" The others looked at Arisu and then at me.

"Huh?" Ima asked, "You're not coming?" I told them that I was tired and feeling kind of sick and I didn't want them to catch anything. Arisu walked over to me and started walking my pace and said quietly: "You know we can't do the plan without you right now!" I was silent for a while, trying to alert Arisu with my eyes the situation. She didn't catch it.

"……no, not today… really, I don't want you guy's to get this…" I forced a caugh, but it only made the choking I was forcing down my throat worse. I felt my chin get tighter and my nose start to hurt.

"Hey guys!" Arisu called to the others, "Tomi isn't feeling up to the overnighter, so I'm gonna walk her home. I'll catch up with you guys later."

The walk to my place was longer than it would be to Miyah's apartment, but I guess that just made it easier to come clean. Arisu and I were very close, almost like sisters. I was sure that if I told her that she wouldn't on her life tell anyone else, especially not Ima or Enamaru. I guess I didn't have to be the one to start the conversation. She asked me: "So what's really the deal? You look more sad than sick. Did something happen?" I looked over at her and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yes and no…" I said, "……If I tell you…… will you promise not to tell anyone? Ever?" Arisu nodded her head with wider eyes and said that she promised. I said: "Okay… so… well… I guess I didn't accept that Ima and Enamaru… you know, liked each other till now…" Arisu slowly nodded her head.

"And?" She asked.

"Well… I guess that I was also starting to fall for Enamaru… I used to think that he liked me too… I thought that whenever he'd look over he was looking at me. I guess all this time it was Ima." My shoulders were starting to shake. "And…and I was really happy… I thought to myself at night: 'It might be my turn now!' and I truly thought it was!"

The lump in my throat was getting worse and it was making it extremely difficult to confess. My eyes started to water over and I wiped under my eyes hoping that my eye liner wasn't coming down. "I was starting to fall in love again! He was everything I wanted in a guy…! I remember when I barely knew him… I was waiting for Ima and Miyah to meet with me somewhere and Enamaru was there… I wanted him to say 'I'll keep you company!' when I said 'I'm so lonely!' so I said it in a fake complain-y voice… and he said it! He said 'I'll keep you company!' he always said what I wanted him to say at the right times…! He doesn't care about what other people think about him and he's so nice… he's… he's…!"

I had already broken down in tears as Arisu hugged me and I laid my head on her shoulder, "Then I heard about Ima and Enamaru… I couldn't stand being in the same room anymore! It's like a de ja vu! I've gone through this before-- only… only the guy I've fallen in love with before wasn't as amazing as Enamaru!" I wasn't sure what Arisu's reaction was, but I could feel her rubbing her hand up and down on my back trying to comfort me. "I don't know what to do! I'm falling in love with him, but he liked Ima and Ima's my friend!!"

"It'll be okay…" Arisu said as I continued to cry. We were still outside but closer to my place now. She repeated herself by saying: "It'll be okay…"

By the time we got to my place my eye liner had drooped big time, my shoulder still jerked at random times and I gave random whimpers. I thought that even heaven would be crying for me at that moment. Arisu assured me that she wouldn't tell anyone about my situation and that she's glad that I told her. Then she apologized for telling me about them in the first place.

"If I would have known… I guess…" We stood there, me in the door way, for a few seconds as snow continued to fall and make the dirt stained snow disappear. She hugged me one more time and I hugged her back as tight as I could. "I'll see ya…" Arisu said, "I'm sure things will work out, Tomi." I sighed as I let her go and waved good-bye as she walked off to Miyah's house. She never spoke a word about it.

I cried while putting on my pajamas, taking off my make up and contacts, brushing my teeth and falling asleep. The people I lived with, that I wouldn't necessarily call family since I'm not related to them at all, weren't home. They were either out until the next day or on a mission. I could cry as loud as I wanted and throw as many soft objects like pillows as I wanted. Eventually after releasing as much stress as I could I fell on my knees, burring my face in my hands and sobbed. Later that night, as I laid in bed with stinging eyes, I wondered what I really should do about this. I had cried all the tears I needed too and I had gone through most of the seven stages of grief.

I had wondered of this really was true. I hadn't heard from Enamaru if he really had liked her. I felt as if I was a horrible friend to Ima, liking the boy she liked as well. I felt like my heart had been ripped out and this took place when I prepared myself for bed. This was the throwing soft objects around. I was mad at myself that I let this happen again. I was too nice inside and out to blame anyone else, and I asked god that, if was really there, if this was all worth it and if he would give me just a little love luck. I don't have to explain the feeling of depression for you. I remembered all the times that I thought before as signs that he liked me. I don't have to explain the loneliness to you either.

Soon enough I had started to calm down. I was taking deep breathes and sitting against the side of my bed. I looked up to the ceiling and recited what Arisu had said. It would be okay. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath in and out and realized that I would have to overcome my feelings for Enamaru. I smiled as I wiped a falling tear off of my cheek. I'd have to be the best friend I could to both Ima and Enamaru… I'd have to do what was best for both of them. I chuckled as I thought of trying to get them to overcome their fear of asking each other out and I liked it. I realized that if I couldn't feel the love of someone special, I could feel the next best thing.

I could feel the feeling of knowing that someone is loved because of me.

If you are wondering, no. Enamaru is not the one I mentioned in the introduction. The one that would "open my eyes to the world.". This experience had helped me become a little wiser and more confident, but it was not the experience of my eyes opening. It was coming. And soon.


	3. The Law of Attraction

The idea of karma has always intrigued me. The meaning karma is "What goes around comes around." Just the thought of it always gave me hope, it lifted my heart up…! If it was true, then I couldn't WAIT to get what was coming for me- I've always been nice, I haven't complained if something horrible happened to me, I've been SO patient with my love life… and the longer the good karma wait's the bigger it comes when it does! So to keep my hopes up, I was MORE than willing to believe. I guess some of my good karma's come back already. I have the most wonderful friends that I could ever ask for…

But…

I guess that I just wanted someone that I could call more than a friend, and I have been trying to get the one that I wanted him to BE that special person to date my dear friend, Ima! I wouldn't DARE hurt Ima by going out with Enamaru, let alone telling her that I liked Enamaru! To be friend to both Ina and Enamaru I'd have to get both of them to receive the courage to confess their feelings for each other and ask each other out!

It was about a week or two since the movie theater episode in chapter one. I was sitting at the desk at the place I worked, The Pink Book Shop. I mean, what better place to learn to become a writer than a book shop? Eh… even though most of these book had a lot of "Adult Content." I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a PERK for the job, or not. I know now though, but I'm not going to say.

The only sound to be heard was the pocket clock I had out on the desk, the sound of my pencil going up and down the paper and the muffled sound of chatter made by people walking by the shop, looking at almost every other store except this one. The temperature was perfect and made me content enough to concentrate, in fact, I was completely sucked in to the drawing. There was chibi Ima and Enamaru, of course, and there was me as cupid balancing on a cloud (Miyah) and next to me was the sun (Arisu) and another cloud (Isao) and you can see Arisu's boyfriend as the moon. Next to me on the desk was a copy of a story I had been writing at the time about a boy trying to find his sister and has to join a gang of traveling thieves to find her.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes… I was sitting at the desk but I wasn't concentrating on customers (that we didn't have), or selling adult books. I was doodling a chibi Ima and Enamaru together on a piece of line paper. I was doing this for two reasons: To get completely over Enamaru and to use the "law of attraction."

The "Law of Attraction" is very similar to Karma. While Karma's theme is "What goes around comes around" the Law of Attraction's theme was "Whatever you express comes to be." If I concentrated on them…

I paused as I looked at the picture I had been drawing for the past twenty-five minuets. I took in a deep breath and flipped the paper over. I rubbed off all of the eraser scraps and began to draw a new picture. I was using the more serious version of the manga style now. I was drawing me. The thing was that I didn't know who to draw myself with. I didn't need to use the law of attraction with friends because I already had the best friends I could ask for. The one that I had started to fall in love with is in love with someone else… my friend. I couldn't draw myself with him. I took in another sigh and flipped the paper back over and gave up on the drawing of myself. I looked back at the picture of Ima and Enamaru. I guess I would just have to concentrate on them for now.

I heard the bell on the entry door ring but didn't look up until I finished chibi Ima's facial features. I saw no one there but I heard footsteps. I got out of my chair and walked through the book shelf isles looking for the customer.

The customer wasn't to be found in the first isle. I looked through the gaps of the books to the second isle but still no sign of him or her. Instead of weaving through the second isle I just walked by, looking down the strip of space between book shelves. No one there either. I started to walk to the next isle with my head still turned to the second, and accidentally collided with the customer who must have been turning the corner from the third isle.

"Oof!" I muffled as I accidentally went in straight to his chest. I was knocked back a step or two and felt the embarrassment when I got steady.

________________________________________________________________

Chapter two:

The Law of Attraction.

"There is only one joy in this world: To love and be loved."

-George Sand

Chapter theme song: "Alone" by Toshiro Masuda

________________________________________________________________

With a red face I looked up at his. He appeared to be fairly young, maybe in his twenties. I couldn't help but wonder what's with the silver hair?

"Uhh, hello!" I greeted nervously. My voice was higher than usual, but that was what happened whenever I got nervous, "Sorry about that I really didn't mean to run into you!"

"Don't worry about it." He said while keeping a calm face. He was a ninja. His headband with the leaf logo was covering his left eye and he wore a face mask, so all you could really see was his right eye to his right ear. His hair was tall and silver… kinda bizarre! I guess I don't have to explain his outfit since the ninja uniforms are all the same. He appeared to be fairly tall, maybe around six feet (with his hair)?

"Do you.. Need any help with anything? Anything I can help you find?" I said as warmly as I could. I didn't get very many customers so I'd have to do the best I could right now.

"Yeah, I'm looking for the next volume of this…" He showed me the book he had been holding in his right hand. I took it in mine and looked at it. _Icha Icha Paradise_? I flipped it over and it showed that it was indeed rated "R" and that it was written by someone named _Jiriya_. It seemed creepy to me out that a ninja would be reading such a… uhh _graphic_ adult novel… I guess they're just human as well. I tried to remember if any recent volumes for it had come up recently but I couldn't remember if there were any.

"Uhmmm… I'm not sure! Did you check where you found this one?" I asked him and he nodded his head and said 'yes'. I couldn't help but notice that he smelled nice…! I tried not to get distracted and told him to follow me and we walked to a rack of books next to the restroom door. For once there was someone that walked as slow as me! For a man whose about six foot that seemed to be a little strange, though. I flipped through the books on the rack, sometimes looking back at the book to remember what the name of the series was. I itched the bottom of my lip with the left pointer finger. "Nooo…" I said, "I'm not finding anything… Sorry 'bout that!"

"It's not a problem." he said.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked as I turned around to face him.

"No, I was just looking anyways." he said while smiling. Ah. Sure. _Looking_. Just what every other customer seems to say. I noticed then that the winter wind had become very strong. It seemed to sound almost like a ghost and the fact that the sun was starting to set early made it dark made it even creepier. Just looking at the snow made me shiver and I wanted to get back to either my drawing or story.

"Come again anytime." I said to him as he grabbed the handle of the door and I sat back down into my desk. The wind continued as he opened the door and it sent the pages of my story flying.

"Crap!" I said as I got out of my seat. There were a lot of pages, I was on about… chapter twenty by that time. I guess when I cursed at the flying of my pages it made him turn his head because as I was stooped down picking up as many papers as I could I saw him walk closer and stoop down as well. I had about five pages in my hand as I raised my head to watch him help pick up some of the papers.

"Sorry about that!" He said, "I wasn't aware of the papers-- are they important?" He looked up and I got a good look at his eyes and it made my heart jump.

"Oh… uhh… not really. Just a little story I'm working on…!"

"Well, then it looks like you work at the right place." he said with a smile. I smiled too and nodded my head and looked back down at the papers, trying not to bend them as I picked them up by the corners.

"I hope I'm not keeping you from anywhere you need to be right now…!" I said, looking up again.

"No, I don't have anywhere to be right now…" He said. I could almost sense a little disappointment in his voice. "Well… I do have one place." I looked up and opened my mouth to say something but he said: "But it can wait. It's not going anywhere."

We had finally picked up nearly all the papers. I was worried that I'd never be able to get them back in order. I guess I should have numbered the pages… We both stood up and he gave me the pages he had picked up. He had a lot more than I had gotten.

"Thanks." I said as I tried to get them all stacked up neatly. He nodded.

"Sorry for scattering them like that." He said. I looked up from the papers.

"No, it's my fault. I need a paper weight really badly. I'll be sure to hold them down next time!" I let out a small laugh and he smiled.

"Well, see ya." He said. He turned his head slightly and looked at me, "Oh, and you might want to try adding a little more detail to Kito's surroundings. Sorry, I couldn't help but read a little bit of it."

_WHAT?!_ I thought to myself, _He-he read it?!_ My face grew red. I always hated showing my work to strangers.

"…well… if _you're_ so good why don't you just give me _writing lessons_…" I said this under my breath with sarcasm.

"Okay." He said, "I'll drop by tomorrow then." He opened the door and my mouth dropped. The cold wind that burst in from the open door blew my hair in my face and sent shivers up and down my arms and legs.

"Wait-- I--!!!" Before I had the chance to tell him that I wasn't serious he was already gone. "…_what the hell_?!" I said to myself. _Had he sensed NONE of the actual meaning of what I had said?!_

They say in the "Law of Attraction" that you've always got to take the opportunity. I guess that, without knowing, I had accidentally forced myself to take it. Perhaps it was the "Law of Attraction" at work from my drawing or… perhaps it was something else. The thought of that hadn't come to me until recently, in fact at the time that it happened I only had the fact of taking writing lessons from a total stranger on my mind.


	4. Holes in a puzzle piece

[Warning: Excessive of swearing in this chapter]

The outside windows of the Pink Book shop were freezing cold, especially without gloves, as I set my face in front of it and peeped inside. Each shot of wind that blew on my open face tortured me and it made my legs tremble on top of the sidewalk ice that never melted until spring. The inside of the shop looked so toasty and warm, the walls almost had a light brown look to them. I wiped off the fog on the window from my breath and looked inside and little longer. Then I slowly and carefully walked to the front door, trying my best not to slip. Just as I grabbed the door handle my feet slid and the weight of my hand clenched to the door handle made me slam my left side into the door way in the fetal position. I cursed under my breath as I struggled to get up.

The next try I grabbed the handle with my cream colored scarf, saving my hand some body heat. As I turned the knob I heard the sound of a locked door. I had come too late. As I carefully turned around to walk back to the window I realized just how dark it would be at that hour if it weren't for the street lights. It was about 7:35 at that time and the temperature was a little below 0 degrees. I had come to the book shop to pick up my story that I had left on the desk after my shift had ended. As I looked in the window again I saw it laying on the desk patiently.

Then I saw the inside door to the bathroom open. My boss walked out with a content face and a magazine in his hands. I knocked on the window with my coat sleeve over my hand, and it caught his attention as I planned. He smiled as I waved quickly and pointed to the door. Saying anything then would have been pointless and in vein with the walls in the way. He walked over to the door and opened it after unlocking it with his keys.

His walk was almost like a waddle, most of his hair had fallen out from age, he had almost no chin from the angle of his neck and chin fat, his nose was pointed heavily and he was short and stout. The only think keeping me from calling him "The Penguin" (Batman's enemy) was that he never wore a tuxedo or a tall "Honest Abe" styled had. Plus, he was one of the kindest old men that I knew.

"Hello, Tomi!" he greeted me as he let me inside the door. "So, whaddya' need?"

"I accidentally forgot my story here…" I said. "I'm not disrupting any work of yours, am I?"

"Oh no, your fine! Did ya loose your keys?"

"No." I said as I walked to the desk while rubbing my hands and arms together. "I thought I'd make it by closing time."

"Oh, okay. You need anything else?" he asked as he rubbed his dry hands together.

"No… but I think I'll just sit here and warm up for a little bit." I sat down behind the desk as I shivered from the sudden temperature change. My boss nodded and walked into his office room, which was to my right. I let out a sigh of relief and looked up at the ceiling. It was made of Stucco, and it always bothered me because I always thought the bits would fall down on me. I looked back down to the leg space in the desk and realized why the man from before had looked so failure. There was a small collage of photos of "frequent customers", and his photo was there among 13 others.

"Ohh…" I said under my breath. I then remembered what he had said about visiting tomorrow afternoon to help me with my writing and my stomach flipped! I was always very shy around strangers and I hadn't shown any of my story to anyone yet… now this stranger was not only going to read ALL that I have written in it so far, but I will have to take his criticism!

I started to feel the annoyance I had felt before. I started to rant in my head all over again about how he knew nothing about me and how he had no right to criticize my work. I didn't even knew if HE wrote anything! And so on and so forth. I let out another sigh to calm down and stood up. My body temperature had gone back to normal so I was finished here. I grabbed my story and prepared myself to leave for the chaos that is what I call the 'Kare Family House'. I don't refer the 'Kare Family House' as a home because it just never was to me.

"See you later, old man!" I called out to my boss. Once I reached for the door handle I heard a ruckus coming from his office. There were shuffling and clangs and shoves.

"Hold on, Tomi! I still need to give you something!" Is what I barely heard my boss say over the noise coming from his office. "You paycheck- I forgot to give it to you earlier!" I heard him open and slam drawers shut, move papers and pencils around and stop from place to place.

He nearly busted through his office door as he showed to me that he had finally found my paycheck. His tiny round glasses were a little crooked, so I could tell that he had been searching hard for it.

"…Thank you." I said as I took the paycheck from his hands and I wore a large grin as I looked at it.

"Sorry about the delay- it slipped my mind! …and you busted out of here pretty fast-- or faster than usual at least." He said with his arms folded.

"Heheh… Yeah, I've had a little on my mind today." I looked at the paycheck again and noticed something. "Umm, Old man… this…" I held it closer and rubbed my eyes. "I think you made a mistake. This says I'm getting more than my actual pay roll…!"

"No, you earned a little bonus." He said with a smile, "You've been working hard and you're a good kid." My smile grew larger as my hands gripped the check a little harder. "Spend it on whatever." He said.

"Thank you so much!" I said with excitement. He nodded his head and said:

"So… tell me… how're things going with your… uhh… what would you call him… would you call him your father or…?" My smile slowly faded as he said that. I knew who he was talking about (not the man from before) and just thinking of him made me feel disappointed.

"…Oh. Let's see… I guess… I guess I would call him my step uncle." I said, my face was now straight. I looked down to the ground and felt my shoulders slump.

"Yeah. How're things going with him?" He asked me. Then I knew why he had really given me a tip in my pay check. He was concerned.

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Chapter 3: Holes in a puzzle piece

"You cannot be free if you do not reach for help, and you cannot love if you don't love yourself." - Natalie Grant.

Chapter theme song: Awakening by Mae

________________________________________________________________

I lived with my step uncle, his daughter who is five years older than me, and my brother who would soon turn eighteen. My step uncle was in his forties at the time but he appeared older. He drank a lot and was often gone on a mission, to the bar or downtown. Whenever he and I were in the same building he would be drunk or cranky and worn down.

His personality is rough and everyone who knew him knew just who he really was. He never beat me or took advantage of me, but he yelled. He yelled a lot and he always called me worthless. I always passed it off that his life as a ninja was stressful, surrounded by death of comrades and friends and that his addiction to alcohol was the cause of his roughness. I was mostly right.

"Things are good!" I told a worthless lie. I could tell that it was worthless when I saw the expression on his face. It was the same.

"…I see…" He said in a softer voice, "Has he gotten calmer since the last time I saw him?"

"Huh? When was…?"

"Oh, maybe about a year ago. I think it was when you and I met?"

He and I had met when I was fourteen years old, as you most likely assumed already. I was helping host a party held for my brother who had been promoted to Jonin. My step uncle had been ranting to me in private in the kitchen and I was burst into tears. My aunt had passed away recently from that time and that time was when he started to get addicted to alcohol to "ease his pain" about his wife, my aunt, my second mother.

My boss was a ninja at the time and decided to join the party. He heard the yelling coming from the kitchen and helped get him away from me by holding a conversation with him as I walked away. I think my boss had more hair back then and a little more color to it too. Not too much longer he retired from being a ninja and took the job as manager for the Pink Book Shop and settled down.

"Ummm, well he's better some days than others." I said, "I can't blame him, he really loved my aunt." My boss nodded and we both felt a melancholy press down. Everyone loved my aunt… and she was the missing piece to my step uncle. Now he was just an unfinished puzzle all over again. "Thank you for the bonus! I'll be sure to spend it on something nice!" I said as I finally opened the door to leave. I had pushed the thoughts of my aunt and step uncle to the back of my mind and tried to decide what to buy. The cold wind made me want to go back inside, but I also wanted to go back to the 'Kare family house' so I could make some supper. _Ah!_ I realized, _I could just buy my own supper tonight!_

Now I was walking downtown, where the wind was broken by the buildings and there were always people walking. The snow was graspable from sand and the people walking by helped make the place feel a little warmer. The murmur from the people walking around was comforting and it made me feel a little more relaxed. I looked to my left and saw several restaurants but nothing that I liked, Mexican food, Chinese food, bleh! I finally found a good looking classic diner styled restaurant and got a seat immediately.

The temperature felt great and the food cooking smelled even better! The music wasn't really my favorite genre and the lighting was a little dim today, but I didn't mind that much. When I sat down in the small poofy red round chair I looked around for a waiter or waitress. Instead I found one of my least favorite people.

"Well, look who it is!" She said as she walked up in all her fake glory. "It's the mini fuzz bag!" she and I have a competition going of who can call the other the most names.

Who is she? She's what people would call my sister- but she's my step-uncle's daughter. She was twenty years old at the time, Jonin, shiny blonde hair, striking blue eyes, tan skin, perfect figure. But she has a crippled personality and reputation. She thinks that everybody looked at her like a goddess, but everyone except for my step-uncle sees that she's just a-

"Whore bitch!" I greeted her as I only looked at her from the corner of my eye.

"Sasquach!" She called back.

"Fat fry!"

"Short round!"

"Limp noodle!"

"Lard lover!" She said as she started to smirk.

"Douche bag!" I was starting to run out of insults. I started to think of the most obvious thing about her and use it as an insult.

"Tool!" She started to give me a fast noogie by lightly putting her arm around my neck and pressing and rubbing her knuckles against the top of my skull as fast as she could.

"Slut!" I forced out as I attempted to get out of her grasp.

"Rat bag!"

"Twit!"

"Twat chops!" I stopped after she said that and turned my head around to look at her.

"What the hell does that mean?!" I asked. She slowed down her noogie and shrugged her shoulders. "Well get offa me or I'll scream!!" She just grabbed me tighter and started her noogie all over again.

"Haha- oh common! Screaming is ALL you can do, you jizzbeard!" I could start to smell that she had used her expensive perfume again.

"So what's that perfume you're wearing today? Whore de _Skank_? Haha-AHH stop! I'm _serious_!! Let go, Reina!!"

"Okay, fine, fine!" She said as she let go of me and went back a step. I tried to correct my hair but it seemed like she put in some of her specialty chakra webs to keep my hair messy. I groaned as I tried my best to straighten it back out but it kept a brown mess of sticky strings.

"Wow, what an improvement!" She said as she gave the most annoying laugh in the world- I could not even begin to EXPLAIN who disgusting her laugh is! I wanted to say 'Yeah, it looks a hell of a lot better than yours!' but I knew that it would be lame. I looked back at her after attempting to get my hair fixed and she had her arms crossed and had a large smirk on her face. She was still laughing a little bit from her lame insult while I rolled my eyes.

"At least I don't live with my dad at twenty years old…"

"At least my daddy's _alive_!" As lame as that might sound to you, that one actually struck me. It isn't the first time she's used that on me either. My parent's died when I was around three or four years old. The only things that comforted me about this fact was that I barely knew them and I knew that they died as hero's.

About twelve or eleven years before, the town had been attacked by something called the Kyuubi. The fourth hokage sealed this monster away with a very difficult technique that took a lot of chakra. With the size of the Kyuubi it took the chakra amount of three people. That was where my parents come in. My brave parents gave every last drop of chakra to the Hokage, and it was just the right amount to seal it away. Without any chakra a ninja either passes out or, in my parents case, they die.

Like I said before, I barely knew them. It doesn't mean that I don't miss them or wish that they were here. I went back to my first and only memory of them. Although everything about them seems blurry to me and I don't remember many details, but I can see them clearly. I was three years old and my parents had high hopes for me.

"_Hold on tight, Tomi!" my father said as he held me close. We were standing on the border towers of the town and they both were lifting me up onto the top railing. I was giggling non-stop as I swayed my legs in the air. They had me by my hands and my mom kept one of her hands underneath me just in case. Everything looked so big back then, just the border towers alone looked like the Great Wall of China!_

"_Be careful, what if she falls?!" My mother said quietly hoping that I wouldn't hear a negative comment. My father just laughed and said:_

"_Oh she'll be fine! Look, she's having the time of her life! Isn't that right, Tomi?" I laughed back and nodded my head as fast as I could._

"_See? She's not afraid of heights!" My father said, looking over at my mother. "I think she should enroll in the ninja program! I think she'd be a great ninja!" My mom nodded in agreement._

"_What do you think of that?" My mother asked me in a baby voice, "Wanna be ninja's like mommy and daddy some day?"_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah!!" I laughed as I looked over to her._

"Hey… HEY… _HEY SHIT BURGLAR_!!" Reina said, snapping me out of my memory and back to the present. "Were you even listening?" I nodded 'No', still in a slight daze. "Hmph. Well listen up! Daddy either has a big mission or a big bar party, and I'm going to a guy's place. So you're going to be on your own tonight."

"'Kay." I said, "So how many abortions have you had so far?" She put her arm around my neck again with an angry face. She opened her mouth to say something but an employee of the restaurant saw what was happening.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! You better stop this shit before I have to kick _both_ of you out!!" the waiter yelled at us. Reina gave a small yelp of surprise and I felt as if I had been saved.

"Okay Mr. Waiter!" She said as she waved both her hands and backed up to leave, then said to me: "See ya later, nut butter!" She left in her usual hip swinging walk and once she opened the door I yelled:

"Hmph…" I growled.

"What the hell was that all about?" The waiter asked. Reina didn't know him, but I did.

His name was Shihere Akimichi. He was a chunin and worked nearly the rest of the day at the diner. He and I were the same age, almost exactly! I was born on December 9th and he was born on December 11th. He was over weight and not very attractive, his hair was brown and put up almost in an Elvis style. His cheeks had red marks on his cheeks that looked like many little red dots. His eyes were tiny and his eye brows were creepy, but none of that bothered me. He was my friend because he and I were the same in everything but looks… except in one little flaw.

"Oh, nothing unusual. Nothing to worry about." I said as I fiddled with my hair more, "But thanks for saving my butt."

"Well fuck, Tomi! I didn't know you could even swear!"

"I guess I make up for the swearing you do!"

"Pfft! Not back there! I've never even thought that you even hated anyone." He handed me a menu and I buried my face in it. I have tried everything on the menu before at least once. I had started my craze for this restaurant ever since Shihere started working here, I hadn't known anything about it before then.

I had ordered the tofu burger with grilled onions put on the side. I had to try to stop eating meat so I could loose weight. Shihere would always make an ironic joke saying that I was severely fat, when he was the fat one. I was 125 lbs and I thought I looked like I was 200 lbs, just like every other teenage girl that had vision.

The tofu burger had an okay taste to it, although I thought once I was half way through it that I should have ordered the steak and just forget about my diet. Once Shihere was finished serving other customers and had time to talk to me I gave him the usual complement.

"You need to thank the fuckin' cook, not me!" he laughed as he stretched out his shoulders. I noticed that he looked as if he was in quite a bit of pain, his face was tense and his hands were fists.

"You been working double shifts, Shihere?" I asked as I wiped off my mouth and licked off the remains. He let out a sigh and looked at the ground while nodding.

"It's been fuckin' killing me, I hate it so much but my dad is too much of a lazy ass to get up and work! I'm the only one who has to do any real work!" I handed him my plate and nodded. I had met his dad before. Let's just say he was a little strange in the head and probably wouldn't make it to fifty years old with his physical state.

You could hear and even smell the sizzles of meat cooking and water boiling and the collisions of cooking tools all the way from the kitchen by the time I was leaving. I started putting my coat back on as I braced myself to challenge the below zero temperatures. I looked outside the door window before I left and saw that there were few people outside now. I looked around the resturaunt hoping I would find a clock of some sort but they didn't seem to have one. Perhaps that was a way to keep their customers there longer?

"Shihere, do you know what time it is?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders and then took out a pocket watch out from his pocket. "It's almost 10:00..."

"Gah!!" I panicked, "I'll see ya!" I was out of the door immediately. I always have to get to bed early so I don't feel like crap in the morning and if I ran all the way home I probably wouldn't get to bed until 10:30, so when I would wake up at 5:00 I'd only get seven of nine hours that I was supposed to get. As I ran as fast as I could while holding my thick story close to me and rubbing my cheeks to warm them up something popped up in my head and it was all that I could think about the rest of the night until I fell asleep.

That man was coming tomorrow. _Was I really ready to share everything with a stranger?_


End file.
